Happy Birthday to me

We haven't planned anything special for today. I figured that crossing the Atlantic, visiting the Azores and now being in Madera was special enough for a 40th B-day! Furthermore, everyday has been special in some way or another since wehave left so it's hard to top. Yesterday for example we left the marina with the boat to do a bit a fishing and came back with a bottle of wine. Miraculous fishing? Not quite. A dinghy crossed our path as we were trolling so we fished it out of the water. Judging by the direction of the wind, we figured it probably belonged to a sailboat that was anchored in a bay close by. We were right and the owner of the boat was very relieved to see us. He had left his friends on the ground and couldn't go get them anymore so he would of had to lift up the anchor and go after the dinghy alone. When we arrived next to his boat, he already had the bottle of wine next to him to give to us. One good deed that was properly rewarded!
This morning, Ally and Tim from the boat Eleanor Tarr (Can
adians from the Toronto region who crossed a few days before us and that we keep crossing in different marinas. See Horta pictures) came over to sign ''Happy Birthday'' in French while playing the youkoulele. They were just too adorable! So much so that I forgot to take a picture! This afternoon, we are waiting for a man to deliver burning alcohol for our stove. It's difficult to
find in Portugal and expensive. We are about to run out so we don't want to miss the visit. The Portuguese are very nice. They go out of their way to be helpful and that is very appreciated. Gaston had a genius
idea to buy a electric boiler and cooking plate so that when we are in a marina, we can use the already provided electricity and not our precious alcohol. Why didn't we think of it before? Tonight, my man is cooking me diner and I bought myself a chocolate cake with one candle because 40 would of cause a nervous breakdown. Thank you to everybody who has sent me Birthday wishes. If I had one wish today it would be to transport all of you here with us.
On Madera, we have made it to the big city. It is hard to find the exact words to describe the island but enormous,
spectacular, superb would be a few. We could go on visiting for months! Funchal is a large city were you can find anything you need. Fruits and vegetables grown in abundance everywhere. Mountains as far as the eye can see. Sceneries that take your breath away around each corner. We have been here over a week and I have taken 400 pictures but I still feel like I haven't seen much of it. The marina where we are staying is a bit strange however. It is bran new and they have built a city around it but the city is not finished, they are not finish it and was is finished is inhabited. It's like living in a ghost town.. whoooooooo! The good news is that the marina offers a shuttle service to Machico so we can go shopping. Going to Funchal is like trying to visit Montreal from Beloeil without a car.
Our reading of Portuguese had become so good that we almost bought detergent instead of burning alcohol when we were out looking for it. I don't think the flame would of been very big but the boat would of smelled nice!